Brokers back up rhetoric with business

by
Donald Horne |
04 Mar 2013

New market share numbers suggest brokers are backing up their rhetoric about preferring to use monolines over the big banks as never before.

“The mortgage bank segment continues to realize growth in the channel,” reads D+H's latest quarterly report, obtained by MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “Funded volumes in the channel of this segment increased by 30.8 per cent as at Q4 2012.”

The latest fourth quarter numbers for the broker mortgage market show consolidated volumes increased 30.8 per cent year over year for mortgage banks, and were up 8.1 per cent for Q4 2012 over the same quarter in 2011.

Proof that brokers consider mono-lines to be true partners before the big banks is evidenced by the declining consolidated volumes for those brawnier institutions. Banks saw the quarter's year-over-year numbers drop 21.9 per cent, reflecting an overall drop for the year of 15.7 per cent.

Still, brokers are showing no allegiance to any lenders, placing client needs above all else.

“I don’t have any allegiance to the banks or the mono-lines. I only look for the best product for the client,” says Mauro Di Cosola, AMP, Dominion Lending Centres Mortgage Village. “They all offer the same rate basically – it is just a matter of finding the right comfort level for the client.”

Street showed consolidated volume numbers increasing 18.5 per cent for Q4 2012 compared to a year earlier and 52.2 per cent for all of 2012 compared to 2011.

Similarly, MCAP showed dramatic increases of 51.2 per cent for Q4 2012 over Q4 2011, and 35.2 per cent year over year for the entire year over 2011.

Both monolines, along with First National, continue to battle for broker loyalty. Street matched MCAP and First National’s January offers of 10 bps on fixed mortgage commissions – what many viewed as an attempt to cash in on ING’s departure from the channel in February.

For Di Cosola, the variety of offerings from all of the lenders only serves to allow him a variety of packages to offer the client.

“No-frills packages are fine, so long as it is explained to the client they won’t be able to tinker with the mortgage; prepay it without a penalty,” he says. “As for trailer fees, I don’t look at what works best for me – I look after the client’s needs first. In the end, you are going to get paid.”

I disagree with Mauro about bank mortgages. I do not know how anyone in our industry can say that they always put what's best for the client first while in the same breath say they will still send a client to the bank. I agree compensation should always be secondary, but there is no way, regardless of rate, a collateral mortgage is a good product to recommend/choose.There is a war on out there for any who haven't noticed, and the banks would love to put us out of business like what happened in Australia.